Donald’s list: Weekend choices (Sept. 21)

(Note: I’m posting this a day earlier than usual because of a Thursday night option.)

The Fresno Art Museum has a venerable tradition: Each year a museum group called the Council of 100 selects an outstanding woman artist over the age of 60 to celebrate. The artist traditionally lives 100 miles or more away from Fresno. This year’s honor goes to a prominent Bay Area fiber artist who just had her 80th birthday. (What a way to celebrate!) The exhibition “Joan Schulze: Celebrating 80” opens with a reception on Friday, Sept. 22.

There’s another exhibition opening as well: selections from the famed AIDS Memorial Quilt cared for by the NAMES Project Foundation. The show is a partnership by the museum and the Fresno County Department of Public Health.

Some details on Schulze from the museum:

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She is both visual artist and lyrical poet, but her experimental and groundbreaking work in the quilt medium, using collage as the basis of her practice, is what is most admired and written about. Over the decades she has exhibited internationally, been published in prestigious catalogs and publications, and is included in the collections of the Museum of Arts & Design, New York, and the National Museum of American Art’s Renwick Gallery/Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

The show includes examples of Schulze’s innovative quilts and collages, all exquisite examples of fiber-art techniques.

I’ll be working on an in-depth profile of Schulze and the show this weekend. The exhibition runs through Jan. 7.

Details: Friday’s opening reception begins at 5 p.m. with curatorial/artist talks. (Tickets are $10 for non-members.) The exhibition opens to the public 2-6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23. (Note: The museum is closed for a private event on Sunday, Sept. 24.)

Fertility and rebirth: A detail of a pomegranate in Rubik Kocharian’s new exhibition. Photo / Armenian Museum

Armenian Museum

Another visual arts option for the weekend: Clovis artist Rubik Kocharian, internationally known for his “dense, detail-packed still lifes and pictures of everyday life,” will be on hand Thursday, Sept. 21, at the opening of his show “All Things Pomegranate” at the Armenian Museum, located at the University of California Center in Fresno, located at 550 E. Shaw Ave.

Kocharian’s series of paintings depict pomegranates as symbol of fertility and rebirth and is dedicated to the liberation of Armenia from the Soviet Union. The museum quotes a Los Angeles Times review:

Details: 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 24, First Congregational Church, 2131 N. Van Ness Blvd. Fresno. A free will offering will be collected to benefit the Casavant Pipe Organ, which is now in its 50th year of dedicated service to the church and wider community.

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The show explores the artist’s personal experience of cultural assimilation as an immigrant from Iran. These mixed-media works, made between 2010-17, are based on the concept of dualities that exist in life, one of which, for Irani, is the duality of being physically present in one place while mentally present in another.

From the gallery:

While some of the earliest pieces are straightforward paintings of acrylic on wood, several others included in this exhibit demonstrate Irani’s process of bringing together objects with different backgrounds in an effort to explore the ways in which they do or do not resonate with each other … In these combined pieces, Irani works on two different pieces at the same time — one based on the experience of his current location and one based on his memories of his life prior to his immigration. Ultimately, by combining the two different pieces together, Irani creates one single piece.

In its final weekend, the exhibition will be open noon-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, and a closing reception for the artist will be held noon-4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 24.

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Covering the arts online in the central San Joaquin Valley and beyond. Lover of theater, classical music, visual arts, the literary arts and all creative endeavors. Former Fresno Bee arts critic and columnist. Graduate of Columbia University and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Excited to be exploring the new world of arts journalism.

Comments (1)

George Jordan

Why must the “artist” reside more than 100 miles away from Fresno. Are there no “local area” artists that might deserve that recognition… several come to mind, by the way.How about a list of the artists who have previously been awarded (and their distance from Fresno area).

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